Why So Sirius?
by KingAleksander
Summary: Remus and Sirius's story from their third year at Hogwarts. Eventual Remus/Sirius love.


Remus John Lupin stared out the window of his small bedroom. His mother hadn't wanted him to have a room on the first floor, because of the current stream of violence towards non-Pureblood families. The Ministry wasn't doing anything to stop the crimes, though the Minister claimed this was because they could not find anything to convict the people committing the crimes. With his mother being a Muggle and his father a Muggle-born, their family was a perfect target. At least, Remus assured himself every time news of another family being murdered came on the radio or was reported in the Daily Prophet, the Ministry knew nothing about his lycanthropy.

When he was six, while playing in the woods outside their large home on his birthday, he had been bitten by a werewolf; namely one Fenrir Greyback. His father had come running at his blood-curdling scream, and cursed the werewolf off of his son. Remus had lost a substantial amount of blood, and when his parents finally fixed him up, he was left with a large scar running from the middle of his stomach down to the left side of his body, just stopping at the hip. For the next seven years, he was forced to transform in their dingy old basement, always emerging with new scars and horrid memories that haunted him the moment he closed his eyes. He knew his parents didn't blame him; it wasn't anyone's fault, just a crack in the magical barriers that surrounded their home, but he couldn't help feeling that they blamed him.

He looked again at the letter he held in his hand, addressed to him, from none other than Albus Dumbledore, claiming that he was to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his third year in less than a month, and he smiled.

Sirius Black stared out the window of his overly-large and dark bedroom on the second floor. He often sat on the window sill to look out over the trees and fields he knew weren't really there. Just a magical enchantment he had discovered in an old book his father owned. He lost interest quickly and moved over to his bookshelf, which contained very few books, and picked one out. Tales of the Beetle and Bard. The stories this miniscule book contained were ones he often read to his brother in order to get him to fall asleep after a particularly harsh punishment. Tonight, however, neither of them had been punished, and so he read a few words from each story before growing bored again.

Yawning, he pulled the curtains shut over his window and yanked his black cotton pajamas on before climbing into bed. Only two more weeks until Hogwarts, he thought in the back of his mind, before letting sleep take him.

One week before school began, Remus traveled to Diagon Alley with his parents. He was still two weeks shy of his transformation, and as such, he was able to carry all of his things. When he walked into Madame Malkin's to get his robes, he froze. Though there was only two other students in the store, one in particular caught his attention. He was tall for his age, with long, shaggy black hair, and a bright smile. Which, Remus realized, was directed at him, as though the boy didn't care Remus had been staring. Remus almost flinched, but, remembering his manners, forced a half-smile back.

Sirius had been wandering around Diagon Alley all day gathering his things, and his last stop was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He stood to the side, waiting for Madam Malkin to finish measuring the tall fourth-year (he assumed, by her talking of Hogwarts…not that he was listening). A young blond with his parents behind him stepped into the store, and Sirius took in the sight of the boy out of his peripheral vision, so as to not be caught staring. Instead, he saw the boy looking at him and turned, catching his eye, and throwing a blinding smile his way. The blond sent what looked like a forced smile back, and Sirius turned away.

Remus and his parents walked swiftly through the train station, not wanting Remus to miss his train. Not bothering to dart their eyes around, they disappeared into Platform 9¾. The noisy chatter of students and their families was almost louder than the other parts of the train station, and, though this being his third year, his werewolf senses made him flinch at the sounds and the smells. His parents loaded his trunk onto the train and rushed back to kiss him goodbye. He relished in their love and was ushered onto the train. Remus swept between students with grace, hoping to find an empty compartment. Sighing in relief, he slipped into the only empty one he could find. He contorted his small body into the side of the seat closest to the window, silently begging the train to get moving already. He pulled his large hoodie - which, really, his parents had said, looked more like a dress - over his knees and pulled the hood over his head, closing his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, it was in shock, because the train had lurched forward, throwing Remus off his seat and onto the floor. Not noticing anyone else in the cabin, he picked himself up silently, releasing a soft gasp when he saw the three boys sitting in the compartment.

"We, uh, hope you don't mind," the one with the glasses and dark, unruly hair said. "All the others were full…"

He shook his head and climbed back into his previous position, this time eyeing the three. The one sitting next to the previous talker was chubby and, from the looks of it, short. He gave Remus a rat-like smile and ducked his head down in embarrassment - Remus could smell it on him. He turned his head sideways to look at the boy next to him and was shocked to see the boy from Madame Malkin's there. This one shot him a lopsided grin, and Remus found himself flustered, turning instead to stare out the window of the train, which had now reached the outdoors. The sight captivated Remus as it always had, but he found himself constantly itching to turn back to the boy next to him.

Not much later, the boys began chattering to themselves about the coming school year. "I heard Pearson got transferred out of school on account of his parents being murdered." The one across from Remus was saying.

The chubby one nodded, speaking. "Kelly's family moved out of the country to get away from the attacks. Think we're going to get a new roommate?" This time, the boy next to him opened his mouth to speak, and Remus' ears twitched in anticipation. They were not let down.

His voice was gruff, as though he hadn't been speaking in a while. "Not sure. I thought there was another-" He stopped speaking as Remus stood up, grabbed his robes, and walked out of the compartment.

Sirius shrugged to his roommates and continued talking. "Another Gryffindor. Wonder what his problem is?" The other two returned his shrug.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" a woman asked from the hall. All three jumped up to grab as much as they could.

Remus peered into the compartment first, to check that he had the right one, and to see if the boys were still there. It was the right compartment- he knew this from the bag he had left, engraved with his initials- but the boys were nowhere to be seen. They left two piles of sweets on the bench opposite Remus. He silently thanked Merlin and slipped inside, tucking his shirt and jacket inside the bag, and sat down again, this time with a book.

Remus checked the watch his mother had given him and noted they should be arriving at the school soon. As he did this, the three boys walked back in, laughing. The boy with glasses walked in, covering his ears, his face red. Curious, but not one to pry, Remus quickly buried his nose back in his book and pretended to ignore them.

Before they got to the school, Remus caught a glimpse of the boy's ears. They were bright purple with green spots, shaped like a house elf's ears. He resisted the urge to giggle and pulled out his wand, aimed it in secret, and cast the removal spell for the hex. The boy felt his ears go back to normal and sighed in relief. "I guess it wore off on its own. Evans is really losing her touch."

The train came to a screeching halt, and Remus waited until the boys left before grabbing his small bag and walking off the train.

Sirius had walked out of the compartment with James and Peter, James leading the way to find Lily. His mind kept wandering back to the small boy who had stood so abruptly and left.

"Yo, Sirius, you still there?" James' voice broke through his thoughts.

"Yeah. Just thinking." James nodded and went back to talking about Lily, still searching the train for his "goddess."

When Lily finally hexed James away, they returned to the compartment with James' hands clamped down over his ears. Sirius eyed the boy in the seat with his face buried in the book and sat down again, still laughing at James.

James had pulled his hands away to scratch his face and Sirius saw the boy next to him try to stop a laugh from forming. The boy pulled out his wand, mumbled something under his breath, and James pulled his hands away from his ears, which had returned to normal.

The train stopped at the school and they left. The boy was still sitting in his seat.


End file.
